Spring cleaning with DisplayLink: wireless USB monitor ICs announced

Lose your DVI/VGA cables and keep your high-resolution display with …

DisplayLink has announced its new DL-120 and DL-160 ICs which will provide video to USB laptop docks as well as the ability to transfer display data from your PC to your monitor without the use of a DVI/VGA cable. Data can be transferred over a wireless USB or a wired USB 2.0 connection and will display resolutions up to 1280 x 1024 and 1600 x 1200 using the Dl-120 or DL-160 interface respectively.

The technology makes it easier to add more monitors to one PC as well as share display data over various displays in the area, such as picture frames and projectors. On the other hand, a USB connection will not be enough to power your monitor as well, so while this technology gets the ball rolling on wireless monitors, it still doesn't finish the job completely. DisplayLink claims DVDs will play in real-time, but whether it is up to the task of games and their high frame rates remains to be seen.

DisplayLink explains that the technology works by using software on the host PC which will act as a Virtual Graphics Card (VGC). The VGC will send data over a wireless USB or USB 2.0 connection to a Hardware Rendering Engine (HRE) on the display, which will rebuild the image onto the monitor.

DisplayLink also announced that they have teamed up with IOGEAR, who will be using the new technology in their external video cards which are expected to hit the market in the first quarter of this year. No word on pricing yet; we'll keep you updated on the new hardware and gadget journals as the technology becomes more available.